GM to invest $244M in Tennessee, create facility capable of building any of its cars or crossovers

View full sizeCourtesy imageGeneral Motors employee Mike Rice works on the Chevrolet Traverse along the assembly line at the GM Spring Hill plant Monday, November 21, 2011 in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

General Motors Co. will reopen its former Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tenn. next year to build the Chevrolet Equinox and begin making a midsized vehicle there for the 2015 model year.

The Detroit-based automaker Monday said it will invest $244 million and create nearly 1,900 jobs at the plant, which has idled in 2009 as part of GM's bankruptcy restructuring.

“Spring Hill has a history as one of GM’s most innovative and flexible plants,” said Cathy Clegg, vice president of GM labor relations. “We’re pleased that, working together with the UAW, we were able to build on that history and develop a plan to resume production at Spring Hill.”

GM expects the investments -- $61 million for the Equinox and $183 million for future midsize vehicles -- to turn the assembly plant into “one of the world’s most-flexible manufacturing facilities capable of building any GM car or crossover based on customer demand or manufacturing need.”

The plant will supplement production at factories building cars and trucks in high demand. GM has increased production three times since it went into production in 2009.

Officials touted the investment, which was roughly outlined in the automaker’s recently ratified four-year contract with the United Auto Workers union, as a testament to collective bargaining.

"We asked the company to bring jobs back to America , and that’s what this collective bargaining agreement represents,” said UAW President Bob King. “Together, we are bringing 1,800 jobs to Tennessee, and a total of 6,400 new GM jobs, which translates to nearly 60,000 good, auto-related jobs in the United States."

Spring Hill powertrain and stamping operations, part of the integrated complex that was the home to the former Saturn brand from 1990 to 2007 and the Chevrolet Traverse large crossover into 2009, are still operating.